Sunday, October 14, 2012

SPRING HEEL JACK – The Sweetness Of The Water (2004)



Label: Thirsty Ear – THI 57146.2
Series: The Blue Series – Format: CD, Album
Country: US; Released: 08 June 2004
Performer: Spring Heel Jack, Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker, John Edwards, Mark Sanders
Album: The Sweetness Of The Water
Style: avant-garde, free improvisation, Contemporary Jazz, Free Jazz
Recording information: Gateway Studios, Kingston, Jamaica.

Spring Heel Jack:
Ashley Wales - acoustic guitar, trumpet, congas, samples, electronics
John Coxon - guitar, organ, harmonica, vibraphone, samples, electronics


                    Spring Heel Jack

Review:

When the U.K. hard drum 'n bass "duo" Spring Heel Jack began collaborating with Thirsty Ear and their Blue Series curator Matthew Shipp, one doubts they had any idea that their own sense of proportion and direction would shift so far away from their source material as it has. Sweetness of the Water is the band's fourth outing in the Blue Series, and as such, it is their most provocative, challenging, and beautiful yet. John Coxon and Ashley Wales have become musicians in the old-fashioned sense of the word on this completely improvisational outing. Their guitars, vibes, keyboards, trumpet, and hand-percussion chores equal and even surpass their sampling and electronic contributions. In realizing this project, the "duo" once again turned to saxophonist Evan Parker (who has been a fixture since 2000) and brought together a rhythm section consisting of Mark Sanders on drums and John Edwards on bass. In addition, trumpeter and vanguard composer Wadada Leo Smith is present this time out. There are eight pieces on the set, none longer than eight minutes, the shortest of which is just under three. Sweetness of the Water exists in a far less controlled environment this time out, and since the language is free improv, Smith and Parker dialogue with one another uninhibited, and often, in unhurried, non-confrontational language. There are no intense flurries of engagement, but the lyrical communication is stunningly intuitive. Coxon's electric guitar on "Track Four" that opens the set walks slowly through the center as a bridge between the rhythm section and Smith's gorgeously long lines. Harsh feedback and improvisational elements are underneath the two main instruments, but they simply fill space with texture and layers of dynamic possibility. On "Quintet," Parker and Smith begin the first of their dialogues, with Coxon again creating an edge for them to walk along. Pace, tension, and texture are the points of congress here, and they come together seamlessly as Sanders and Edwards dance around the edges, bringing them into sharper focus. Harsh electronic sounds, drones, and an organ usher in "Lata," as Parker solos in the middle register. Pulse is the language of rhythm, though drums are absent. Think My Bloody Valentine meeting Gavin Bryars with Evan Parker soloing and you have it. The intricate guitar and drum encounter on "Duo" is a wooly and thoroughly engaging exercise in control and listening. But the recording's grandest piece, "Autumn," closes the set. Coxon's church organ blares out a majestic series of open chords as electric guitars, shimmering drums, and a confluence of lines by Parker and Smith punctuate the Wall of Sound. It's eerie, strange, and crystalline in its strange elegance and shifting dynamics where elements of drone and pulse are woven with multi-dimensional sonics and tight, restrained harmonics. The sonorities as they mutate and change shape are so haunting and pervasive they become their own esthetic.
Sweetness of the Water is not for everybody, but for those who like their free improvisation drenched in beauty, this is your album.

By Thom Jurek




Welcome to new prog-blog "Different Perspectives In My Room...!".
Enjoy the music, and please leave a comment. Thanks in advance.

Link in Comments!

20 comments:

  1. SPRING HEEL JACK - The Sweetness Of The Water (2004)
    MP3@320+Cover

    MediaFire:
    http://www.mediafire.com/?x561xtf4o1lbzkz

    or

    PackUpload:
    http://www.packupload.com/PJN2XZXD14A

    ReplyDelete
  2. The link mediafire don't work, and packupload i can't. Thanks a lot for your work & choice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi sandor,
    here is the new link. Enjoy the music.

    http://www.mediafire.com/?b4348k18igksw6e

    ReplyDelete
  4. thanks for your velocity; great musicians; wadada leo smith have an unique trumpet's sound.

    ReplyDelete
  5. These guys are good Vitko . . . And I just love Wadada! THANKS!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi!
    Can you reupload this?
    Thanks in advance.

    Sergio

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to find a little time. Be patient please.

      Delete
  7. Can I second the reupload request, when you have time of course vitko? Thanks. Also, any chance of a reupload of 'FRODE GJERSTAD with John Edwards & Mark Sanders - The Welsh Chapel'?

    ReplyDelete
  8. New link:


    SPRING HEEL JACK - The Sweetness Of The Water (CD-2005)
    FLAC:
    http://www.mediafire.com/download/v0xo8vypd3nb6p4

    ReplyDelete
  9. beautiful, most beautiful...I listen and just surrender...thank you...

    ReplyDelete
  10. I tumble around on the internet without being logged in most the time, one more feeble attempt to slow down tracking by the "trackers" who track everything.
    So I dont know if my previous "thanks" got lost in the logging in ritual.
    so thanks again for all the work u must have done here for the last 5 years... yes i know everytime u put up a re-up link it means uploading the whole file again, not forgetting the file server "account banning" and other pitfalls.
    thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  11. From what I can determine you changed the file name from (CD-2004)
    to (CD-2005) in your re-up, which made me think there were two releases a year apart but after googling I think (this album that I never heard of before yesterday) is all from 2004... u simply changed the file name because u realized your mistake calling it "2005"
    ... o wait the working link is 2005.
    lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Common typing error, year of release of CD was 2004.
      Enjoy!

      Delete
  12. Hi Vitko, very much thanks for keeping this old files alive. Beside your regular LP posts I try to capture some old Evan Parker stuff for new musical discoveries. Even I do not comment on regular basis, I follow your posts with great pleasure. Thanks again for all your work and efforts. Your blog does mean a lot to me.

    Uwe (Germany)

    ReplyDelete